Community Bookstores and Spontaneous Dates
by maureenbrown
Summary: "i asked you for your help getting a book off the top shelf and you're laughing at my taste and called me a nerd so i shoved you into a table of nonfiction best-sellers and that's how we both got banned from the quirky community bookstore" au. One-shot, Jaylos/Jarlos with mentions of Dougie.


A/N: So, I botched up this AU. I don't like the ending. I'm posting it anyways. Also, on my last three Jaylos fics, I've gotten an _endless_ number of requests to update them. I've written it in the summary, and I don't know how to make it any clearer: **I WILL NOT BE CONTINUING THESE. THEY ARE ONE-SHOTS**. I don't mean to sound rude, but I'm being bombarded by those and frankly, it's starting to tick me off. On that happy note, enjoy!

x-x-x

Honestly, what type of community bookstore doesn't have at the _very least_ a step stool of some sort? Talk about discrimination.

Carlos huffs angrily at the top shelf, since when did they get so high? He came here last week, and the week before that, he's pretty sure he was able to grab something that high.

Then again, he was in the aisle over…

Carlos turns and looks around to see the other bookcase. He was right, it was fucking shorter. What type of bookstore had different sizes?

He groans, turning back to the first case. Was _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_ really _that_ much trouble to go through? This was the fifteenth time through the series, and yet he still hadn't forked up enough money to buy the book.

Carlos looks down the aisle, hoping for someone tall to conveniently pass by.

Just his luck, there's a tall, tan guy flipping through a book at the edge of the bookcase. He shoves the book back into its place, clearly uninterested in it, before turning to go.

"Wait!" Carlos shouts impulsively, regretting it a millisecond after he yells at a complete stranger.

The boy turns around and Carlos chokes on his own spit.

The stranger is taller than him by a little, just enough to reach the book. Carlos chooses to glaze over the fact because _damn_ , that guy is _godly_. He has long, dark hair (normally Carlos isn't into that, but he certainly is now) and a red beanie shoved carelessly on top. He has chocolate-colored eyes that could either be completely welcoming or stone-cold and dangerous. He's wearing a black motorcycle jacket with random patterns and colors, open-fingered gloves, ripped, tight jeans, and combat boots.

"Umm… Hello? What the hell do you want?" He asks, waving a hand in front of Carlos' face. Shit, he'd probably done that more than once. Carlos might as well hold up a sign that says, 'LOOK AT THIS FLAMING HOMOSEXUAL WHO IS _CLEARLY_ CHECKING YOU OUT!'

"I… Well… I… Umm… Can you grab that book for me?" He squeaks, pointing up at the top shelf. Goddamn his paleness, Carlos' cheeks burn red when he gets embarrassed and it does _not_ look flattering.

"Which one, there's literally more than twenty." The other boy sounds so fucking _snarky_ and if he weren't so handsome, Carlos would've given him a piece of his mind. He may be short, but he sure as hell can be intimidating.

"Sorry, I need _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone_." He says instead.

The hot guy snorts. "That one? You're a fucking nerd. That book's lame."

Oh.

Oh _, hell_ no.

Insult him, insult his personality, insult his _dog_ , sure, but Harry Potter? No way in all of Azkaban.

"That is _it_ , you cocky-ass son of a bitch!" Carlos screeches, launching himself at the other boy and shoving him as hard as he can. He catches him off guard, the tan boy flying into a table with books formerly neatly set up with nonfiction best-sellers.

He emerges from underneath a pile of Bill O'Reilly books (Carlos attempted to read _Killing Kennedy_ , and it put him to sleep).

"What's the problem here?" A boy with slicked hair combed neatly to the side and glasses stands in front of them, looking frantic.

"Nothing, I'm just about to pummel this pipsqueak." The stranger roars before erupting from the novels and landing on top of Carlos.

The white haired boy scrambles to shove the darker boy off of him, pushing at his muscled arms in vain.

"You're only like two inches taller than me, I'm not a pipsqueak!" Carlos justifies.

"Jay, get off of him!" A female voice yells commandingly.

The boy, assumedly Jay, stops, glaring down Carlos. Now probably isn't the best time to notice how close they are, and how little space there is between their mouths, Carlos thinks.

"Honestly, we can't leave you alone for a _minute_." A different girl says exasperatedly.

Jay pushes himself off of the other boy, a scowl in place. "Can you two just fuck off?"

"You're fighting over a _book_ , Jay, get over yourself!"

Carlos examines the feisty one that just mouthed off at Jay. She towers over him (he's on the ground, but standing up Carlos would be taller), looking even more sinister. She has dark purple hair and grey eyes that bore into Jay's dark ones.

"Mal, I think we should go." The other one says. She's gorgeous, with long blue hair and perfectly done make-up. Carlos doesn't swing for girls, but he can't deny that she resembles a queen.

Mal turns to look at her friend, before sighing. "Fine, Evie. I'll let him fight his own battles."

The purple haired girl pushes past Jay, purposefully smacking into his arm and past Carlos, who's still laying on the floor. He has to roll to the side to avoid getting stomped on by a fuming Mal.

Evie also saunters after her, whispering an apology with a perfect smile.

The nerd seems to have snapped out of his daze (he was obviously checking out Evie the whole time). "Get out. And don't come back." He says, trying to sound falsely confident.

Carlos takes this as a good time to get off the floor, using the bookshelf to pull himself up.

Jay steps forward and glowers at the helpless nerd (who according to his nametag is named Doug). "Gladly. You had shitty books here, anyways." Jay snarls, before dramatically turning around to go.

Carlos stands in his way, his mouth still slightly agape. They stand there and stare awkwardly at each other.

"Well, are you gonna move, or what?" Jay snaps and Carlos hopes he didn't notice his gulp.

He shifts to the side, watching as Jay storms out of the community bookstore without a glance behind him.

An inappropriate sense of longing settles in Carlos, as he stumbles out of the shop. He thinks he'd like Jay to be on top of him like that again, maybe just without a flurry of fists.

"Wait!" He barely registers slamming open the door and smacking into Jay. The other boy's standing on the curb, his phone in his hand. He catches himself from face-planting int the street.

"What the hell do you want now?" Jay asks, but his edgy tone seems to have calmed down a little bit.

"Umm… Do you wanna ride? Assuming your friends left you, that is." Carlos improvises.

Jay cracks a smile. "I just called you a nerd, insulted a book, attacked you, and got you banned from a bookstore and you're offering to take me home?" He says with a chuckle.

Carlos knows he's being mocked, but that can be overlooked. Jay looks _exceptionally_ hot when he grins. "Well… Yeah. If you want one." The white haired boy proposes.

Jay's smirk flickers, and he examines Carlos, as if to see if he's being serious.

After a minute, it starts to get nerve-wracking. "Or, you know, I could just leave you to your thoughts…" Carlos backs up a step cautiously.

"Nah, I'll take the ride." Jay says slowly.

"Oh." That actually worked. Carlos can roll with that. "Okay. My car's over here."

He turns and walks towards the parking lot, arriving at his Prius.

Jay notices his car and laughs again, and Carlos' stomach flutters in embarrassment. Or possibly because the hearty, loud sound of the other boy's amusement.

"Do you wanna ride or not, or are you gonna attempt to transform into a cackling hyena all day?" He pouts.

Jay stops, but he still looks happy. Well, happier than Carlos has ever seen as of date. "I know there's something I wanna ride." He leans on the Prius with his right arm, trapping Carlos so that he's backed up against the car.

The white haired boy stands in shock, Jay's apparently more forward than he thought. And abrupt.

"How about instead of taking me back to the hellhole that's my home, I take you out for coffee instead? There's a café right next to the bookstore, and as far as I know I haven't been exiled from there yet." Jay asks.

Carlos has to stop himself from asking Jay what the actual fuck his problem is. It's not every day a guy asks you out, especially one that looks like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. So, sure, why the hell not?

Carlos nods his consent, showing off a tiny smile.

Twenty minutes later, when they're both settled at the cozy coffee shop, with steaming mugs of cocoa in their hands, Jay starts laughing again.

"What're you, bipolar? One second you're pouncing on me and the next you're Mr. Chuckles." Carlos blurts. He's starting to wonder why Jay even asked him, his brain has absolutely no control of his mouth.

"Well… It's just that…" He bursts into a fit of giggles again. "I freaking _love_ the _Harry Potter_ series."

The white haired boy knocks his hot chocolate over, startled, but quickly stabilizes it, only getting some splashes on the table. He snatches a napkin and scrubs at the dribbles furiously.

"You mean to say that you started a fight with me about _my_ ridiculousness when it counters yours?" He asks. Carlos admits it, he's a little irritated. What else about Jay does he not know? Is Jay a spy, gathering information on him? Is Jay even his real name?

"I don't know. I just kinda made it up. I went there in hopes of pickpocketing and maybe stealing a couple books. Then I saw a cute guy who happened to approach me first."

Carlos' cheeks burn. He blames it on the scalding beverage and his fur coat.

"So, on a whim, I made up a lie to capture your attention. I guess it worked. And now look where we are." He gestures at the booth.

"You're a thieving, treacherous _asshole_." Carlos says, but he's not gonna lie. He's impressed.

Jay flashes him a proud grin and Carlos ducks his head down in embarrassment.

Suddenly, there's a tinkling of a bell, advertising that someone new has entered the café. Mal and Evie stride in, both beaming. Doug enters behind them, stepping forward and taking Evie's hand.

"So, I'm guessing your plan worked?" Mal asks Jay.

"Wait… What's going on?" Carlos stammers.

"Oh. Well, Jay here was smitten over you and it was _adorable_. He saw you a couple times before at that very same bookstore. He called us up and formed a last-second plan to ask you out! Isn't it romantic?" Evie sighs dreamily.

Carlos turns to Jay, raising his eyebrow.

The boy looks a little flustered, drumming his fingers on the table.

"You're the most romantic shitface I've ever met, you know?" Says Carlos finally. "You could've just asked me out. I would've said yes."

"I like this way better. It gives me a couple more stories to tell." Jay shrugs.

Then, it's as if a switch goes off in Carlos' brain. Jay set all of that up… For this spontaneous date?

Well, if these were his intentions, he might as well make Jay's ending to the tale more interesting.

Carlos steps on top of the table, avoiding the cocoa cups and kneels down on one knee.

He grabs a surprised Jay's collar and yanks him forward, connecting their lips together. They break apart when Jay's friends start to catcall.

"Not too bad for a 'fucking nerd,' right?"

"Shut up."


End file.
